News from Iraq

It will probably go un-noticed in all the flap on Haditha, but there is a lot of great news coming from Iraq.Â

I’m not going to comment onÂ Haditha hereÂ until the facts come out, the folksÂ involved are volunteer Marines and they deserve fair investigation and if called for fair trial. Talking about it too much interim is either presuming guilt or innocence, and making it political, our armed forces deserve better than that.

Additionally, a torrent of reports has continued to flood radical Internet chatrooms concerning the identities and biographies of fallen Al-Qaida combatants in Iraq, most of them foreign nationals. Among those chronicled in these latest reports:

– Abu Dujanah al-Qahtani (Saudi Arabia): A former Saudi National Guard soldier who participated in various assaults in far western Iraq organized by senior Afghan-trained Al-Qaida commanders.

– Abu Hummam al-Urdani (Jordan): A black belt Tae Kwon Do instructor who “assumed responsibility for training at the desert-based Rawa military camp” in 2003. The now-defunct Rawa camp is widely hailed in mujahideen circles as Al-Qaida’s first training camp for foreign fighters in Iraq. Al-Urdani later joined Al-Qaida’s notorious Omar Corps, dedicated to murdering Shiite militiamen and their families.

– Abu Radwan al-Urdani (Jordan): Better known as Raed al-Banna, a law student from Salt, Jordan who spent time working in the United States, including during the period of September 11, 2001 “when the men of Islam finally struck and wrought destruction in the heartland of America in broad daylight.” According to the mujahideen, the weight of 9/11 “moved Abu Radwan and so he embraced blessed Allah once again.” Abu Radwan, a.k.a. Raed al-Banna, later volunteered as an Al-Qaida suicide bomber in Iraq targeting Shiites in the town of Hilla. The devastating attack that he carried out “claimed the lives of 150 cursed enemies, and wounded more than 300–we ask Allah that they do not recover from their injuries.”

– Abu Usama al-Ansari (Iraq): A former illegal arms smuggler during the regime of Saddam Hussein who reformed himself and became a mujahid after the U.S. invasion in 2003. According to the mujahideen, Abu Usama “was inspired by the Shaykh and mujahid, Abu Anas al-Shami [a.k.a. Omar Yousef Jumah]… who spent a period of time residing at Abu Usama’s house, urging people to join the fight. Abu Usama used to teach his brothers many of the lessons and sayings of Abu Anas.”

– Abu Asil al-Jazairi (Algeria): A former senior official in the comparatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood movement who was “eventually guided toward the righteous path” and used his “administrative and organizational experience” to help Al-Qaida instead. According to the mujahideen, Abu Asil “was assigned the responsibility of overseeing the borders [of Iraq]. In other words, he was responsible for all the Arab brothers that came to fight in the jihad… He loved to quote from Shaykh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s statements… and did this so frequently that he practically knew all of his speeches verbatim by heart.”

– Abu Ibrahim al-Tunisi (Tunisia): A veteran Tunisian mujahideen commander who “spent most of his life fighting on the frontlines and practicing jihad in Afghanistan, Europe [presumably Bosnia-Herzegovina], and Iraq. He was responsible for Shaykh Usama Bin Laden’s guesthouses in Afghanistan… [and later] arrived in Rawa [Iraq], the city of martyrs, where he spent some time and assumed the role of commander of [Al-Qaida’s] security branch.”